The Virtuous Concubine

Malu took the excuse of her menstrual period to take savory supplements to recuperate, but some news eventually got out.

After all, there are traces of what meals are prepared every day and what medicinal materials are taken from the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Many people in the palace thought that Malu, the Imperial Concubine Dezhao, was making preparations to compete for favor in the future, and was planning to give birth to another prince or princess in order to consolidate her position and surpass Concubine Mi.

When Concubine Mi heard these rumors in her own palace, she couldn't help but smile smugly. There was a hint of pride in her smile, but also a hint of sarcasm towards her opponent.

It seems that the imperial concubine still feels threatened by her position in the emperor's heart, otherwise why would she be so eager to recuperate and try to have another child to consolidate his favor?

Concubine Mi thought so and felt very happy.

She gently waved the round fan in her hand to make the smoke in the incense burner spread faster. The smoky atmosphere made Concubine Mi's beautiful face even more mysterious.

"Humph, she does know how to plan, but it's a pity that getting pregnant is not that easy."

There was a hint of contempt in Concubine Mi's tone. If the Emperor didn't summon her, no matter how hard she recuperated on her own, it would be in vain!

The palace maid quickly agreed: "Your Majesty, Concubine De Zhao may have made a wrong calculation. You are now the apple of the emperor's eye."

Concubine Mi touched her belly, a trace of worry flashed in her eyes: "If this baby is born, if it is a prince, he will naturally be able to surpass the imperial concubine, but if it is a princess..."

In Concubine Mi's eyes, the difference between a prince and a princess is like heaven and earth. Although the princess is also the emperor's flesh and blood, for the concubines, the prince means more possibilities and more guarantees.

Not all concubines could be like De Zhao, who spoiled a daughter to the point of lawlessness and made the emperor look at her differently, and even let her go when she was disrespectful to him! This made Concubine Mi even more jealous of De Zhao.

Seeing this, the palace maid quickly continued to flatter: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Didn't the imperial physician say that your belly is pointed, and it is likely to be a prince? And you are so favored, if this baby is not, the next one will be!"

Concubine Mi sat on the couch and did not reply to the maid's words, but just looked out the window. The flowers in the courtyard were in full bloom, very beautiful, but Concubine Mi had no intention of appreciating them.

Maybe because she was thinking too much during pregnancy, she thought of the past.

In the past, in the Jiangnan area with its willows, painted bridges, and green curtains, I was just an ordinary woman from a poor family.

But because he was born with outstanding looks since childhood, he was loved by his father and mother.

After the Cao family bought her, they started to educate her very strictly. During those long and boring days, she received almost cruel training in etiquette, poetry, calligraphy, painting and many other aspects.

It was during this process that she gradually came to understand the truth behind her parents' seemingly selfless support.

It turned out that in her parents' eyes, she was nothing more than a commodity to be sold. They carefully packaged her with their so-called love, expecting to sell her beauty for a good price at the right time.

Which family who loves their daughter so much would sell her child to the Cao family and do such a dirty thing?

From then on, her personality became increasingly cold and lonely, keeping people at a distance.

But the more picky and aloof she was, the more independent she was, the more men flocked to her. They were attracted by her coldness and uniqueness, and tried to conquer this iceberg-like woman to prove their charm.

Wang Shiqi Niang, through the repeated pursuits and being pursued, had long seen through the true nature of men, which is that they are mean.

Then he watched the Cao family's high-rise building rise and fall, and then rise again. The Cao family offered him to the Fourth Prince in order to protect themselves, but the Fourth Prince ruthlessly refused.

Perhaps it was God's arrangement, or perhaps it was a joke of fate, but she was eventually noticed by the emperor and entered this bottomless palace.

She held her chin and smiled bitterly. Although the journey was full of hardships, she succeeded in the end and enjoyed wealth and glory that she had never imagined before. The Cao family now had to rely on her.

She is no longer the Wang Shiqi Niang who was manipulated by others.

However, she would occasionally fantasize about whether the Fourth Prince would feel a trace of regret when he saw that the woman he had once rejected had now become the head of a palace in the palace and had a status on par with Imperial Concubine De Zhao.

Kangxi had no idea that he was in trouble. He also heard about Malu's illness in the Nanyuan Palace. He finally remembered to write a letter to show his concern for her and the pregnant concubine.

In his letter to the crown prince, Kangxi also instructed him that if he had time, he should go and see Concubine Dezhao and Concubine Mi on his behalf, and reprimand the palace servants under him, asking them not to neglect their care and not let them suffer any grievances.

The prince was angry at the time about the letter that Malu wrote to Kangxi, so he pretended not to have seen it.

However, this was his consistent attitude towards Kangxi. When he received a letter, he would at most write "read", just like a spoiled son.

In the past few days, driven by the nameless fire in his heart, he worked day and night, reviewing the piles of memorials, and every stroke of his pen was filled with his uncontrollable irritation.

Not only that, he also constantly tormented his subordinates. He became particularly demanding of the officials who came to report to him, and would scold and criticize them harshly if they did not meet his expectations, which frightened the officials into trembling with fear and treading on thin ice.

Naturally, these things were reported back to Kangxi's Nanyuan Palace, but the prince had always been rude to others, so Kangxi did not take it seriously.

Chen Xin, who was beside the prince, was often punished, and his injuries never healed.

After weighing the pros and cons again and again, he still gritted his teeth and suggested to the prince to go see Concubine De Zhao.

Seeing the Imperial Concubine, maybe the Crown Prince would not be so angry anymore? No matter how loyal I am to the Crown Prince, I can't stand being punished like this every day.

Normally, if the prince had such a legitimate reason to visit her, he would have grown wings and flew straight to Yonghe Palace.

But today, after the prince had listened to his advice for a long time, so long that Chen Xin began to feel uneasy, the prince's face turned cold and he squeezed out a few words from between his teeth: "No! I will never go again!"

The determination in his tone made Chen Xin's heart skip a beat.

What happened? Could it be that the prince's temper these past two days was due to a conflict between him and the imperial concubine?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he had found the key to the problem, so he quickly said, "But the queen has been ill for almost ten days. It is said that she couldn't get out of bed for the first seven days. And the queen is unwilling to call the imperial physician. The queen is weak now. If she knew that Your Highness didn't want to visit her, I'm afraid..."

Chen Xin secretly raised his eyes to observe the prince's expression, hoping that his words would make the prince change his mind.